First of all, how's everybody doing? I've been away from the forum for quite a long time... probably a few years actually. I stopped playing KA for a while after I started having trouble finding time to play and I started getting impatient with the little quirks this game presents on occasion when modding it.

But, I've gotten the itch again, and I've been wanting to get back into the game. I've still got the issue of never having enough time, but I tried playing Bridge Commander, and Star Trek Online is kind of fun, but it just isn't the same. I don't know what it is about KA, but it's just the best ST game that's ever come out, and probably the best Star Ship simulator for that matter. I've seen some new mods that have come out that really excite me, simple stuff usually, like weapon mods for Fed ships that make them fire more like they do in the show/movies as well as some really detailed and intricate remodels of ships.

Anyway... this is the suggestion forum, so surely I must have some sort of suggestion, no? Well here it is... and it's probably been made before (I haven't done THAT good of a job of lurking) but here it is... I know it would take a LOT of time and effort on the part of those among us who know how to program and work with the game engine and all of its inner workings, and maybe it's just impossible given the age of it... but here goes. (Have I got you on the edge of your seat yet?)

Using the game engine to create a sort of free-to-play KA/Star Trek MMO. Well, perhaps MMO isn't really the proper word for it, maybe a better term would be a persistent game world where people can come and go and play together. If any of you have ever played Day-Z you may understand where I'm coming from with when I say that. It starts with a download for everybody who is interested to get, with standardized ships, weapons, systems and all that... everything is the same. The pick of the litter with each respective mod is used, and balanced for the sake of gameplay, optimized to run smooth and reliably. (A few of you are laughing right now, and it's okay... I don't blame you for thinking I'm insane right now) There would be (a) centralized server(s) where people could log on and explore, battle, or whatever.

A player starts off in the system of their respective faction's home world (and playable factions can/should be limited for the sake of simplicity) and they can warp around anywhere they want... if they encounter another player in their travels, it is up to them how they deal with it. I mean... just thinking of all the possibilities is exciting. Of course, the game engine won't allow for any sort of leveling or mission system on the fly (I don't think at least) so fleets with Admirals, Captains, and other such ranks may be a way for people to advance, or perhaps league play where people are allowed to use certain class ships and what not.

I dunno, I haven't really hashed out all the details, I just miss playing Klingon Academy in its hay day. Nothing matches the satisfaction of blowing a huge chunk of your opponent's ship away, or defeating a ship much more powerful than yours using nothing but your wits and some creative thinking in a PvP situation. No other Star Trek game has ever really been able to match that.

"For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding."- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

I don´t know, how long you were "OUT" of KA community, but the situation of KA is:

KA is old game. With new HW and OS is more problems to play this game, after KA was played only on old HW+WIN XP by KA fans. I think, we can say, that KA have clinical death... But.There is mod, which KA is playable on modern new HW and OS. KA goes alive again and there was community, which try to get message to world that KA is still here. We played KA every saturday multiplayer (thank´s TEETH), but after time, players was less and less. After, we don´t play KA today multiplayer. Sometimes, some players like DBF 68 (player and modder) give very nice battle video of KA on Youtube, but i don´t know about everythink, who try to get KA alive to public.

"TEETH" make www.site, where you can download KA and Comat´s modern hardware and OS patch and you can play KA again like an old times. I gave some mods on www.cloud.

But thats all...

Klingon Academy like MMO ot FREE game, i thinking about this many years ago... But i can´t do anythink with KA engine. I make some modification in shp. file(like invincible ship), but thats all. Last week, i thinking about MP mod - every race have systém, if you want fight, there is battles space systém with all space terrain. Only idea like thousand others...

Using the game engine to create a sort of free-to-play KA/Star Trek MMO. Well, perhaps MMO isn't really the proper word for it, maybe a better term would be a persistent game world where people can come and go and play together. If any of you have ever played Day-Z you may understand where I'm coming from with when I say that. It starts with a download for everybody who is interested to get, with standardized ships, weapons, systems and all that... everything is the same. The pick of the litter with each respective mod is used, and balanced for the sake of gameplay, optimized to run smooth and reliably. (A few of you are laughing right now, and it's okay... I don't blame you for thinking I'm insane right now) There would be (a) centralized server(s) where people could log on and explore, battle, or whatever.

I think, that someone write to paramounth/14 degrees for code off engine of game, and there was some problems with game rights and the codes was damage.I like your idea for KA MMO/FREE game .

I write to www.gog.com for push this game on this server to download, but no response...And i have idea for put try realive KA on kickstarter, but for me, this is unreal...

Teeth make xfire and steam community of KA, try to enjoy it and let´s see, what next with KA.

DonutGuard wrote:First of all, how's everybody doing? I've been away from the forum for quite a long time... probably a few years actually. I stopped playing KA for a while after I started having trouble finding time to play and I started getting impatient with the little quirks this game presents on occasion when modding it.

Hey DonutGuard. Doing ok, but things could be better. Understood about the time constraints of real life getting the way of playing and modding KA. I'd rather be modding KA in the modest ways I do when I have time rather than doing the non-creative and non-fulfilling stuff I do now.

DonutGuard wrote:But, I've gotten the itch again, and I've been wanting to get back into the game. I've still got the issue of never having enough time, but I tried playing Bridge Commander, and Star Trek Online is kind of fun, but it just isn't the same. I don't know what it is about KA, but it's just the best ST game that's ever come out, and probably the best Star Ship simulator for that matter. I've seen some new mods that have come out that really excite me, simple stuff usually, like weapon mods for Fed ships that make them fire more like they do in the show/movies as well as some really detailed and intricate remodels of ships.

With some mods installed that make it better, BC is ok, but still not what it should have been given Totally Games's (?) track record of being an established and experienced gaming company. I've never warmed up to STO because it's too video game arcade like for me. STO lacks the 3D aspects that KA and BC have and that's a deal breaker for me.

Even though KA wasn't all it could have been; and as much as I bitched about some of the aspects of it that I thought were warranted and valid gripes that could be addressed and fixed; I still gravitate towards KA vs. BC. If the exciting weapons mods you're talking about are the ones I made for the TMP Enterprise, those items are still available, even though my portfolio website is still tagged as having malware on it. I just need to submit info regarding my efforts to secure my website better to Google Safe Browsing or whomever it is that will lift that website warning.

On 10/28/2013, I changed my ftp and GoDaddy passwords and then I re-uploaded non-infected html files to the root directory of my website. I just checked it tonight and none of those files have a time/date stamp of anything later than 10/28/2013. So, it "seems" I might have secured my website with those changes.

One thing I found odd during my website browsing was an NTUSER.DAT file in one of the folders. That's the file that holds all of your operating system account personal and settings information. I have no idea how the hell it got there and whether or not it was valid. Regardless, I deleted it because it just shouldn't have been there in the first place. I've Search scanned the folder in the My Documents folder that contains my website and there is no NTUSER.DAT file. So, there shouldn't be a NTUSER.DAT included with all my website content.

DonutGuard wrote:Anyway... this is the suggestion forum, so surely I must have some sort of suggestion, no? Well here it is... and it's probably been made before (I haven't done THAT good of a job of lurking) but here it is... I know it would take a LOT of time and effort on the part of those among us who know how to program and work with the game engine and all of its inner workings, and maybe it's just impossible given the age of it... but here goes. (Have I got you on the edge of your seat yet?)

Using the game engine to create a sort of free-to-play KA/Star Trek MMO. Well, perhaps MMO isn't really the proper word for it, maybe a better term would be a persistent game world where people can come and go and play together. If any of you have ever played Day-Z you may understand where I'm coming from with when I say that. It starts with a download for everybody who is interested to get, with standardized ships, weapons, systems and all that... everything is the same. The pick of the litter with each respective mod is used, and balanced for the sake of gameplay, optimized to run smooth and reliably. (A few of you are laughing right now, and it's okay... I don't blame you for thinking I'm insane right now) There would be (a) centralized server(s) where people could log on and explore, battle, or whatever.

A player starts off in the system of their respective faction's home world (and playable factions can/should be limited for the sake of simplicity) and they can warp around anywhere they want... if they encounter another player in their travels, it is up to them how they deal with it. I mean... just thinking of all the possibilities is exciting. Of course, the game engine won't allow for any sort of leveling or mission system on the fly (I don't think at least) so fleets with Admirals, Captains, and other such ranks may be a way for people to advance, or perhaps league play where people are allowed to use certain class ships and what not.

I dunno, I haven't really hashed out all the details, I just miss playing Klingon Academy in its hay day. Nothing matches the satisfaction of blowing a huge chunk of your opponent's ship away, or defeating a ship much more powerful than yours using nothing but your wits and some creative thinking in a PvP situation. No other Star Trek game has ever really been able to match that.

I understand where you're coming from with this idea. You, I, and other people have wanted something more grand than what we got. The drawbacks as you've mentioned to some extent are time, programming knowledge, programming knowledge as it relates to KA's particular code, the lack of KA source code, programming what you're talking about, user interface creation, game server admin knowledge, etc., etc..

If you never read the KA Post-Mortem, it's worth reading to give you and idea of what we'd be up against from doing anything other than ship, sound, and special effects modding. Because the old KA site seems to be missing or John has made it unavailable for some reason, I'm having to post this link to a copy of that post-mortem as given by Ron Hodge. Ron was credited in the KA Manual with game design, story development, and the game manual:

I don't know all the ins and outs of this revamp, but I am keeping my eye on it and will test it when it's available. There was a blurb somewhere on one of their sites that said they had a Quick Battle version of the game close to release. So, with all the work these guys have put into revamping and retooling the game, I'd like to see what it can do. I've always thought that taking the best of KA and BC and refining it would make a greater game in the end.